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Site & Water Guidelines
Intent
To support the design and maintenance of project sites, to promote ecological integrity, and to support healthy, biodiverse plant, animal, and human communities by restoring soil, habitat, and water quality. Current development practices can lead to damaging stormwater runoff, degraded water and soil quality, depletion of water, soil, and valuable vegetated areas, and can result in habitat destruction. These guidelines help to create sites that reduce water and energy consumption; reduce and improve stormwater runoff; minimize pollutant contributions related to transportation; and support, protect, and restore native species habitat and landscapes.
| Site and Water Guideline | New Buildings | Major Renovations |
|---|---|---|
| S.1 Site and Water Connections | Required | Required for Minimum Site Scope (See Guideline) |
| S.2 Site Water Quality and Efficiency | Required | Required for Minimum Site Scope (See Guideline) |
| S.3 Soil | Required | Required for Minimum Site Scope (See Guideline) |
| S.4 Vegetation | Required | Required for Minimum Site Scope (See Guideline) |
| S.5 Animal Habitat Support | Required | Required for Minimum Site Scope (See Guideline) |
Objectives
- To improve the ability of the soil to maintain its biotic and abiotic structure against adverse impacts of development.
- To restore and/or enhance the site’s hydrologic capacity to improve the soil, vegetative and animal habitats, and to mitigate adverse onsite and downstream water impacts.
- To reduce consumption of potable water and fossil fuel-based energy demand with appropriate site design and use of local vegetative materials.
- To reduce the amounts of toxic materials and salts used on project sites that contribute to air and water pollution.
- To enhance site biodiversity and surrounding networks of flora and fauna.
- To ensure that building sites provide habitat for local native and endangered species.
- To restore/improve the outdoor environmental quality (OEQ) of the site, which enhances occupant productivity and building performancewhile offering other community benefits
General Site and Water Information:
The following information is collected in the Site and Water section of the B3 Guidelines Tracking Tool, Section S.0:
Predesign:
- Site information: existing site areas of various conditions (e.g., wetland, woodland, building footprint).
Design:
- Updated site information: existing and proposed site areas of various conditions (e.g., wetland, woodland, building footprint).
Final Design:
- Updated site information: existing and proposed site areas of various conditions (e.g., wetland, woodland, building footprint).
- Site and water strategies used, including narrative.
Closeout:
- Updated site information: existing and proposed site areas of various conditions (e.g., wetland, building footprint, woodland).
- Updated site and water strategies used, including narrative.
Definition of Project Site
Defining the project site can be accomplished using one of the two following methods:
- Use property lines to determine the project site.
- Include at least the area disturbed as a result of the construction activities of the project if the project is part of a larger campus. This disturbed area will be considered the primary project site.
On sites using the second method, more flexible site considerations can be used in meeting the site and water requirements. Projects may meet the requirements of the primary project site by interventions on the larger campus outside of the primary site area (including in areas separated by a public right-of-way). The area used to meet the B3 Guidelines will be considered a secondary project site (or sites) and must be owned by the same entity as the primary project site. Different secondary project sites may be defined as necessary to meet different guidelines.
These interventions on secondary project sites must (i) satisfy the requirements for the primary project site area and consist of a modification performed as part of the project and documented as a permanent modification, or (ii) consist of a well-documented use of a regional or campus resource (e.g., the use of a regional stormwater facility for stormwater requirements) that is filed with an appropriate authority with jurisdiction (e.g., the watershed, county, city) that has adequate capacity to meet the B3 Guidelines requirements in addition to all other obligations. A modification of a secondary project site is not required for existing animal habitats that meet the B3 habitat requirements and that are immediately adjacent to the primary project area. The secondary site area may not contribute to meeting any of the B3 requirements if it is also used to satisfy other preexisting or planned regulatory requirements. The secondary site area, if utilized to satisfy any regulatory requirement for any area outside of the primary project site (e.g., the portion of a secondary site area which contributes to meeting stormwater runoff requirements for an area outside of the primary project site), may only consider the capacity above what is otherwise utilized in order to meet the B3 Guidelines.
Interventions may include, but are not limited to, regional stormwater management, pollinator habitat locations, animal habitat, or local vegetation; each can be located on a portion of the campus that would be best suited for such a use. In most cases, when combining stormwater and ecological enhancements, larger ecological areas and district stormwater systems are preferable to scattered, smaller systems.